Working to provide publishers a standardized and scalable way to transact their first-party data

Sovrn Holdings, Inc, a publisher-focused technology company, today announced its participation in a proof of concept (POC) focused on testing programmatic seller-defined audiences in the bidstream with network partners. In preparation for the loss of third-party cookies, Sovrn is partnering with Prebid’s Taxonomy Taskforce and IAB Tech Lab’s Addressability Working Group to support using IAB Tech Lab’s Seller Defined Audiences specification (SDA). The SDA proposal suggests that programmatic audience buying can be safely scaled and monetized by leveraging anonymous, standardized  taxonomy IDs in place of cookies and mobile IDs, and that buyers can meaningfully differentiate these audiences within bid requests by referencing existing data labeling and transparency standards.

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The first phase of this initiative has focused on standardizing how publishers pass first-party data to exchanges, standardizing how publisher first-party data is passed from SSP to DSP, and assembling an industry POC to test the end-to-end solution. “With this effort, the publisher gains control and choice around the data, said John Rosendahl, Principal Product Manager for Sovrn Identity Solutions. “They also get a democratized approach to first-party data in the bidstream while addressing transparency and accountability.”

“This specification establishes an effective, scaleable, and privacy-forward approach to help publishers monetize and freely compete with each other based on the underlying quality of their audiences without having to worry about data leakage or needing to arduously set up hundreds of Deal ID-based private marketplaces,” said Benjamin Dick, Sr Director of Product – Privacy, Identity, Data at IAB Tech Lab. “As adoption of the SDA grows, we’ll continue to monitor how market and buyer behavior adapts via datalabel.org integration, and determine whether additional features are necessary.”

“Sovrn and CafeMedia both share a commitment to help publishers monetize first-party data as barriers to utilizing buyer data become more ubiquitous,” said Patrick McCann, SVP Research at CafeMedia. “We’re excited to be a part of this initiative. We expect the new SDA standard to dramatically lower the friction and set-up time to transact.”

The next phase of this initiative will be focused on finalizing the integration of the platforms and testing segments being identified by buyers and publishers in the bidstream. For more information on this initiative, Sovrn will be presenting at the 2021 AdMonsters Vail Publisher Forum on Aug. 23, 2021.

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